All I want for Christmas is
by N-I-N-T
Summary: "Mistletoe was embarrassing; dreadfully embarrassing. Of course Ash remembered getting stuck under there with Misty—he ran, like any sane person would!" Three part story revolving around Ash and Misty during the winter season as they deal with their unnatural feelings for one another during one of the happiest times of the year. pokeshipping, partial contestshipping.
1. Chapter 1: Mistletoe

**All I want for Christmas..., Part 1 of 3: Mistletoe**

6:35 p.m. Ash's bedroom

As per tradition, every couple of years Ash's mother would throw a Christmas Party. While doing so, she would invite all of Ash's friends, new and old to a bash at their farm house at the edge of Pallet Town. Christmas cookies would be set on the counter along side fudge and several other treats; punch and soup and all sorts of drinks. Secret Santa was always played, so everyone had a gift on Christmas day. but more times than not, Ash would completely miss the party. Most of the time he was busy with training—traveling at some continent without money to travel, and so he would wish his mother happy Christmas from three regions over.

This year, that was not the case. Ash had just finished up the Kalos league not even a month ago, and was on hiatus until further notice—which meant, he was home at last; and for the first time in years, home for the Christmas party. He ripped off the tie his mother tried to make him wear, and tossed onto his bed with little care. Unfortunately, his absence from parties was not always unintentional; after the last one, he swore that he would miss any of the large gatherings around Christmas; mostly because, well... He adjusted his dark blue jean pants, strapping the belt around his waist and ho-humming.

His mother was a mistletoe fanatic, and today was Christmas Eve so all the young girls, and all the older boys sought out kisses from some stranger, or friend, under a poisonous plant. Ash didn't understand, in fact, he found himself humming a short tune that he made up in his head years ago; and a day much like this.

"Jolly ol' St. Nicholas, before the night is through.."He stopped while tugging on his rather uncomfortable dress shirt that his mother had forced him into, "There's something...something..." He mumbled forgetting the words as he buttoned his shirt and then awkwardly belted out with Pikachu humming along; "Merry, merry Christmas! Don't let me get caught under the mistletoe!" He sang cheerfully with Pikachu, laughing whilst tucking his shirt into his jeans.

He didn't dislike coming home for Christmas, now, Ash _loved_ Christmas. He loved the food and the decorations; he loved the good nature and the different holiday songs—he enjoyed the gift wrapped toys and the idea of Santa sitting on every street. Ash loved all of Christmas, except for one, small part.

Everyone was already here; the furniture moved to make room for more chairs. He could hear them cheering and laughing like kids on Christmas morning. Having all of his friends in one house was great, but Ash had a deep, embedded paranoia deep in his chest. Because of said worry, he was running late because he spent more time than he had anticipated hanging out with his pokemon at Professor Oak's lab; that, and buying his secret Santa gift. Dawn was his secret giftee: unfortunately he had no idea what to buy her—so he settled with some fuzzy gloves and an scarf that he found in the clearance section of the mall when Misty and Brock dragged him out to the store. All girls loved fuzzy glove and scarves; Ash knew...even though Misty assured him that once Dawn sees the color, she might actually vomit. She then corded him that he was a _terrible_ gift giver.

When Ash asked Misty what she bought; she got all flustered and said that "It's supposed to be secret Santa because they're not supposed to know who got it for them!"

"Even better, if she doesn't like it; she won't know it was me!"

"Everyone recognizes your gifts Ash, you buy things like a toddler!"

"...Yeah, well your hair is orange! Like carrots!"

While remembering the shopping event in question, he buttoned the cuff of his shirt, and then unbuttoned it before rolling his sleeves up. Gift buying was one of the reasons he didn't like this time of the year. Aside from his mother, in which he would buy a simple, easy gift-this year he got her a gorgeous silver frame, or at least painted silver—he wasn't made of money—and his mom liked the sweet idea, because she liked pictures. But he never bought for anyone else, because it was too hard, he was always worried that he would buy a poor gift because he had no money, and no idea what people liked when unrelated to pokemon.

On top of dreadful gift giving; another reason he didn't care for Christmas parties was because it seemed like everyone went into a romance frenzy. One year, he caught his mom and Oak kissing; and that was enough for him. Since then, he avoided it like the plague—that, and mistletoe in general. Evil white berried plant. He scowled at himself; thinking twice to wear his hat. He could already hear Delia making remarks that it makes Ash look half-dressed and informal. He touched it, and then set it back down; either way, he decided not to wear the hat. Better safe than sorry.

As he started down the decked halls covered in green and red garland with plastic snowflakes tied to the roof; he felt the surge of Christmas. Along side the snowflakes, however, was a set of the green-evil-plant. He sighed unhappily. His only hope? That the cookies were as good as six years ago.

6:37pm: the living room

Christmas jingles played on the radio as Ash descended the stairs Misty could hear him and Pikachu humming a faint song under his breath; an unfamiliar tone that replayed her own memories of six years ago. She tilted her head while she talked with May, who was otherwise occupied with eying down one of the carefully placed mistletoe in the house; right beside the tree, under hidden by the doorway on one side, yet in full view from this angle. The gifts were all packaged high; a higher count than usual in attendance this year. Shamelessly, Misty came almost every year, party or not—she had adopted Delia as her own mother in the fashion that her sisters were very seldom around during Christmas, unless they threw a huge party that Misty was, more times than not, uninvited to. She didn't feel too bad about attending the small Christmas get together, though, because Tracey came nearly every year as well; so did Gary and Professor Oak, and some of Ash's straggling rivals and former companions if they were in town.

This year, Misty counted heads—Brock took time off from school to be here; as he had been the last two years, Dawn made her way from Johto; and May and Max were already in the area. Cilan arrived just that morning, Richie spent the night; as well as Brandon, who had to leave early today, and Paul; who said that he couldn't stay because of personal reasons. Serena flew down from Kalos for the invite; as did Clemont and Bonnie. Misty's face furrowed and she sipped her nog while May started off about Cerulean cave near Cerulean City. Most of the guests were only here for the night; they had family to see after the party—and places to be that were elsewhere.

Hearing May talk about Cerulean Cave made Misty shudder for a short moment, Misty glanced at the mistletoe as well; there was only one person that she would like to meet under there tonight—but he was dense, and ill-mannered. Misty had as much of a chance as Serena did to get him under there—all effort and no success; Misty wondered why the blonde would even bother.

"Misty?" May waved her hand in front of the red-head's face and she blinked.

"Mmhmm?" She asked in return, her train of thought broken.

"I asked if you think I could find a water evolution stone there." May said with a huff, and Misty shrugged.

"Probably not, Cerulean cave is mostly a popular dating spot now. There's nothing really there anymore except for pretty lights—most of the pokemon have left." At this, May sighed.

"Why do you need one?" Misty asked, causing May to shudder and turn bright red.

"Well...I don't... Drew...does..." She said stammering and placing her forefingers together nervously. Misty sipped her eggnog once again, blinking a few times. Poor May had it bad, from the occasional glance to the mistletoe hanging above the door for when he walks in, to the shy passes they shared with one another that was _completely_ noticeable to anyone who wasn't dense like Ash. Misty smiled at May and tilted her glass to the girl.

"You could, you know, always, tell him. Instead of waiting around."

"Yeah." May scoffed, folding her arms, "I'll do that right as soon as you tell Ash."

"Tell me what?"

The sip Misty had just drank as a touche went up her nose; rather than spitting it out over her brunette friend. Misty leaned over, holding her face; wheezing while Ash and May started to laugh.

"It burns." She hissed, feeling her eyes tear up. She wiped at them with her wrists, but May had pat her on the back as she walked away.

"I'll catch you later Misty, I'm just going to go and do _that_ thing I had planned." May chuckled as she left her defenseless friend standing beside Ash, who had one hand stuffed into his pocket and a Santa Clause cookie in the other. He wore dark jeans, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He looked much older than that ten year old Misty met so many years ago—but he still had that same innocent look in his eyes. Misty straightened out finally, taking a sip of her drink as if it would flush down the rest of her sorrows; but it didn't make it better—luckily, not any worse. She brushed her hand against her simple, green dress, and exhaled.

"So what did you need to tell me?" he asked suddenly, she looked over at him. His hyperbole of denseness could see no end of the tunnel. In fact, it was an endless tunnel, full of water with a paddle boat; only, she had no paddle to navigate, and Ash was drowning somewhere in the center. She sniveled.

"That you're a terrible gift buyer." She retorted coyly, still wiping at her teary eyes. Ash flushed a shade of red. She couldn't see the little yellow pokemon anywhere, so he must have scampered off; probably to play with Piplup.

"May wanted to tell Drew that he is a terrible gifter? I saw what he bought, I wouldn't say that he was terrible."

"We weren't needing to tell you both the same things." Misty snorted, rolling her eyes. She made white lies look so easy; "Why did you listen in on our conversation anyways? I thought that was a _girly_ thing to do." She mocked, and Ash could only shrug in response.

"I was coming to talk to you both, and just heard I guess." He said feeling slightly standoffish at her comments; she pat him on the shoulder. She could have easily dragged him over to the corner, and being who he was; he would probably trust her; get him a lone for a few minutes—but a seering deoubt echoed in her brain, preventing her from acting in such a way.

"Yeah, okay, nosy." She quipped while walking away to the center of the living room where Serena and Dawn's game of Rock 'em sock 'em robots had gone from friendly, to violent.

"I am not nosy!" He shouted back after a short hesitation.

8:00pm: the Living room.

Ash's mom stood in the center of the room, near the glowing Christmas tree, under the garland streamers, in front of the fireplace that had multiple stockings hung up with care.

"So, this is the best turn out we have had in awhile—Thank you for coming. Everyone; Merry Christmas," She paused, taking a moment for the crowd of trainers to reply. "but most of you know, we do a secret Santa gift every year; those of you who can guess who your secret santa is will win some really amazing prizes for first, second and third place. Now, you can't walk up and GUESS your secret Santa-you have to have a good reason, then come and tell me; and I'll let you know if you were correct or not! So; Mr. Mime will hand out your gifts, then on a count the three; well all open at once!"

She clapped her hands together cheerfully, causing Misty to visibly shudder, and Ash to feel a great amount of distress; if his gifts were so easy to discern, then Dawn would win right away—He had a chance to prove Misty wrong; his gift wasn't horrible.

At the count of three; they all ripped into their gifts with sounds of elated joy shooting up in every direction. Gary laughed loudest at the gift he was given, holding up a box of something with the words "Trojan" written on it. Ash didn't seem to think it was funny, but everyone else was busting a gut. What was so funny about a trojan box? Delia turned three shades of red, and then walked over to Gary and plucked the box out of his hands.

"Who thought this was a good gag gift idea?" She whined, and Misty couldn't keep it together; neither could Brock Ash eyed them suspiciously and pursed his lips; looking down at his own gift.

"You better hope he never guesses correctly!" Delia shouted and stormed out of the living room with a red blush over her face. Gary had buckled over in laughter, holding his stomach. A few more cheers were heard; and then a disgusted shriek, followed by a laugh. It was fun, because no one ever guessed correctly who gave them their gift!

"Who would buy poop colored scarves and gloves!?" Dawn shrieked, and Ash suddenly felt very small, and benign in his seat; he turned an awful shade of red that only grew darker when Misty and Brock started to whoop in laughter; slapping their knees and tearing up. It was just too much. Misty looked like she couldn't breathe and Ash wished for a moment that he had his hat to cover his eyes.

When the laughter had ended, May sat the quietest, holding her hands over her gift as if it were going to bite her while everyone else showed off. She looked sideways, at her hands, and then at the rest of the group. "So we can't ask who bought for us." May thanked god, and then scoot her gift off to the side. Iris bolted up, however, and snagged the present; much to May's chagrin.

"Give that back!" She whined, red in the face; gathering up the guests attention. When Iris revealed the gift, she cracked the slightest smile.

"..were we supposed to buy gag gifts?" Iris asked as she held up this dainty piece of fabric, which was black and looked like underwear, only much thinner, Ash noted; and had red lace and a matching bra. He choked up, and started to laugh at this as well. May screamed in horror and took the 'gift' from Iris.

Drew spit his water out upon seeing her gift, and Misty and Dawn whistled simultaneously while Serena clapped unable to breath from laughter; "May, you have a secret admirer, I would say!" Misty cheered, jeerig because most people never figured out who their secret Santa was. Therefore, no harm was done by buying something that would be hilarious when opened. This year, unfortunately, that doom landed on May and Gary's shoulders. May snatched up the gift and stuffed it back into the box, tucking it away for use never.

Ash stared down at his gift for a moment, in the activity and joy, he hadn't taken the time to look his over. His eyes started to glow upon looking at it—exactly ten months, ten days after his birthday, he started his pokemon journey, April first AW12, which also happened to be the anniversary of the day he started to travel with Pikachu. It was engraved onto a metal—no, silver plate about the size of his thumbnail, attached to a silver chain. His face contorted slightly. It was technically a necklace—but could easily be attached to a chain, or a zipper; or even his pokeball belt. It was practical—whoever got it for him; and insanely thoughtful. In the back of the engraved piece, there was a pokeball engraved, colored with a little lightning bolt on one side. A reiteration of Pikachu's original pokeball. Ash grinned slightly, and ducked it over his head; letting it fall carefully to his chest.

"You got a necklace, Ash?" Gary snorted and sneered over the couch to look at it; he flipped it over once, and then again and then laughed slightly.

"That's the day you started your pokemon journey. How cute. We have a winner for the thoughtful gift of the year—Anyone wanna claim this one?" The room was silent, and then Gary started to tease him more; pestering Ash that he got a girl gift; with Ash saying that it was not a girl gift—there was nothing wrong with chains, and remembering the day that he started his journey. Once the bickering between the two started; the noise level went right back up with people conversing about their gift decisions, and trying to discern who the gag-gifters were.

8:45 pm: The Back porch

Gary embarrassed himself; he approached Delia with a gleaming confidence that was shot down quickly by the snark red-head beside him in the kitchen only moments ago. He grumbled as they filled onto the back porch to build snowmen and make snow angels out of the whole inch of snow on the ground. Misty watched while Ash, Bonnie and Max painstakingly tried to build a snowman out of snow that was too short to even get her shoes wet. Gary nagged beside her; until finally she snapped while rolling her eyes.

"Oh, please. Why would I buy you condoms? You couldn't get a girl to sleep with you even if she was drunk and ugly." Gary looked absolutely offended, and then stalked off the porch back into the house; passing by Brock who gave Misty a thumbs up that she returned gleefully. See, Misty knew that Brock bought them—but because of how Brock acted 'so mature now', most people wouldn't think he would be the type to purchase such a gag gift. Misty, however; and possibly Ash, if he thought about it long enough—would know that Brock was completely capable of such a hilarious act. Anything to see Gary make a fool of himself. Especially because Brock had little to no luck with the ladies himself.

They were all outside, trying to alleviate the situation that they had stumbled upon; Ash helplessly decided to get Max's mind of the subject by making a snowman. Said incident? Drew and May had accidentally found themselves under the mistletoe shortly after unwrapping gifts. So, the rest of the group pushed outward, to a safe area away from mistletoe—or so they thought. While Misty watched Bonnie and Max helplessly apply hand fulls of snow onto a half-made snowman, while Ash was getting snow thrown in his face by Dawn. Misty chirped from the railing and placed her palm above her eyes as if improving her vision.

"What's that I see?" Misty cheered, causing literally everyone who was in range of one another to part like the red sea. Including Brock, whom was standing beside her.

"But Max and Bonnie standing under little balls of holly!" She shouted while clapping her hands. Dawn chuckled, and Ash exhaled in relief as a cat-like grin tugged at his cheeks—but Brock beat him to the punch line.

"Now kiss!" Brock shouted while cupping his mouth with his hands. Instantly freezing the small blonde and blue-haired tweens' in their spots while they looked up, and then at one another. Max's face turned several shades of red as he looked to Bonnie—Misty could hardly see it; but it was like a light had turned on. In the meantime, Ash climbed the six stairs to the top of the porch and glared at Misty.

"That was traitorous. We brought him out here to get him away from that." Ash laughed nervously.

"Oh please, like they wouldn't do it to us if the situation were reversed." Misty said with a head tilt in Ash's direction; she took her eyes off of the young couple for two seconds, and missed it—Dawn, however, did not, and let out an audible "aww" before Bonnie pranced off. Probably to go find Serena; her one and only confidant.

"Well, I wouldn't get caught under the mistletoe." Ash muttered in his defense while pursing his lips, then adding sourly "Not this year."

Misty grinned at that and turned on him. "Oh, yeah, that's right. And if you do—you're just going to run away for some cookies, right, Ash?" She spoke knowingly, forcing the trainer to turn a shade of red as he recalled the events of years ago. He gulped.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He stammered but Misty closed in on him, obviously just pushing his buttons.

"I think you do..." She leaned in close, so much so that she had her hands on her hips, a thoughtful grin, and was only about two inches away from Ash's face. He leaned over backwards to try to avoid her, but she had the better leverage. She continued with lowered eyelashes; "And I think you owe me." her low, sultry voice made a panicked Ash fall flat onto the ground with a thump; heart racing. She laughed loudly, however, upon seeing him fall she let her hands fall to her knees and she squat much like a troll with a brimming, sadistic grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Ash chimed recklessly diving away from the red head and darting back into the house. Correction, Misty saw him _scamper_ back into the house—leaving the chuckling red-head standing in her red winter coat beside an awe-struck Brock and confused Serena.

9:00pm the kitchen

Mistletoe was embarrassing; it was _dreadfully_ embarrassing. Of course Ash remembered getting stuck under there with Misty—he ran, like any sane person would! He didn't need a stupid plant to tell him when it was and was not okay to kiss someone—if it were up to him, it would never be okay to kiss! But now, Max was doing it; and so was May. What was up with this fricking Holiday? He stomped upward, toward his room—the perfect safety. Only when he got there, he found the door was locked. His mother must have really wanted him to stick around for the party. He banged his head against the door not once, but twice; and then sulked back down the stairs.

The gang had funneled back in from outside, for heartfelt choirs of horrible sounding music that he _wanted_ to join in on, but felt he would be intruding. He circled around the kitchen door a few times; looking out for the horrible plant, and after deducing that it was safe, he went in for some cookies. The house was like a mouse trap—when he thought he would be safe, a low-hanging, white or red berried plant would stare down at him with a venomous trap. He wondered for only a moment, if that's how a poached pokemon felt.

As he shoved not one, but two cookies into his mouth; he turned to look into the dinning room; he could see that his mom, and Professor Oak were shooting the breeze with a little bit of wine—most likely strawberry, that was his mom's favorite—and gossiping. Further to the right, on the far end of the counter; he could see small boxes; labeled "1", "2", and "3", his eyes went wide. The prizes! Curious, he approached them, lifting the lid of the first box, only to find a AW21 steel blue pokemon gear with phone, tracking, and strategic properties provided by some of the best pokemon trainers _ever._ His face lit up as he sat the lid down, and then looked over the kitchen, quite proud. Even though he didn't want to previously now he _had_ to know who got him his gift. He wanted that prize!

He pulled from beneath his collar the silver chain that he had been given, and ripped it off over his head—who would give him this? He couldn't just go in and guess; he only had once chance, a stupid rule made by his mother; but it made it fair to the rest of the guests, he supposed. He looked at it back and forth, flipped it over a few times; until finally exhaling. He had no clue who would buy him something like this. At the top of his head, he wanted to say "Dawn", but only because she had more money than the rest of them as a model with her pokemon. It obviously wasn't Brock, or any of the guys; Ash thought, no male would buy another guy a necklace. So he thought.

Ash rushed out of the kitchen quickly, and back into the Christmas cheer. He only had an hour left to figure out who his gift was from and over a dozen people to ask.

9:30 pm the living room

"Goodbye, we wish you guys could stay longer!" Delia shouted to the departing bodies of May, Max, and Drew. Beside her, Clemont and Bonnie were also getting dressed—they were all taking separate night trains to their homes in order to be there in time for Christmas day; and the trains left at 10:00pm.

Brock was also one of the few who were leaving early; Serena and Dawn, too. Serena seemed edgy though; standing overly close to the mistletoe whenever Ash was in the room-and dared to call him over, but once he saw it, he would point it out—and in order to avoid looking intentional, she would instead move to him. Misty watched with a slight gleam in her eye—Serena was fighting a very, very slick and icy uphill battle all night; one that, as Misty knew, more times than not ended up at the bottom of a frozen lake.

Misty said her goodbyes to Brock, Cilan, and Iris, too; because before she knew it...her time was up as well. She didn't really have a place to go back to—but her sisters would be home soon; drunk, and helpless. Misty should be home to make sure they don't injure themselves, or someone else, for that matter.

She hugged Brock one last time as he threw on his head his winter toque; and then Cilan and Iris followed him out the door. Cilan and Brock had met in Johto awhile back, and they were all going to the same place after wards; so they figured they would travel together for a little while. As she watched most of her friends trickle away, seeing Ash say goodbyes again to some of his oldest friends and rivals was like a wedge in her heart. For the first time in a long time, she would have been okay staying the night just to see Ash for a bit longer—but she knew, as they all knew, it was time to go home.

That being known, she wasn't wearing a dress home—she adamantly refused, and so while Serena tried one last time to get Ash under the mistletoe, Misty, instead of watching, decided to take to the first floor bathroom with her pack to change her clothes.

Pretty soon, as it ended every year—the only people left would be her, and the Oak's. Except this year, with the inclusion of Ash, who finally decided to stick around. She pulled off her simple green sweater dress, in favor of pulling on a white tank-top underneath a long sleeved, teal v-neck shirt. Over the top of black jeans. With the party over; she also refused to wear her hair down, and pulled it gently up and over her head, into a lopsided pony-tail and then she walked out of the bathroom.

"Ouch!" She cried, running into the statuesque figure of Ash, who was walking quickly to get away from the departed crowd; just out of the rest of the worlds eye sight. He grabbed his nose—which Misty had bonked with her forehead, and hunched over while she rubbed her own head.

"Watch where you're going, Ash." She grumbled whilst looking up at him; her face immediately pale while he looked down at her—she hadn't realized how much taller he was than her without her heels on. He was at least four inches taller than she was now! But, that wasn't the point; she pointed directly upward, forcing Ash's eyes up as well; he grimaced.

"That's just sick."

9:40 pm the hallway behind the stairs

After having dodged this all night, he was flabbergasted to think he was found under one _again_. In fact, he was so shocked; that he forgot how to move his legs, and he was stuck there like a frightened doe. With Misty, he wasn't sure what would happen—she so leisurely forced anyone else to kiss, but she hadn't moved herself to kiss him. Unknown to him, she was torn between taking the chance and thinking better not. He looked down at her wide green eyes as they shifted around the small enclosed area and then she took a step back; and swiped off her new clothes with the palms of her hands.

"No one saw us, therefore it didn't happen." She spoke quickly as his heart raced inside of his chest, pounding dangerously against every rib, "You can go have your Christmas cookies—okay? I'll let you have this one." She said in passing while patting him on the chest gently and turning away. Ash, whom was mortified only seconds ago, washed down with a very slow, and dreadful sense of...of, sadness? No, he wasn't sad—it was more like the feeling he got after losing a battle.

Right, that was it: disappointment.

9:45 pm the front door

"I'm so going to be late." Misty cursed while sliding on her black winter boots; she had tossed her nice clothes into her bag sloppily, and even left her heels at the door because she didn't have time to make room for them. Ash emerged a few seconds later from behind the stairs, he needed a moment to compose himself—Gary could get behind that.

"So Ashie, did Serena ever catch you under the mistletoe?" He asked with a snide tone, causing Ash to turn six shades of red.

"No!" Ash chirped loudly turning red. Misty didn't have much time to think about his reaction, however; the train left in under fifteen minutes, and she was going to have to run if she was going to make it on time—for once, she was happy for southern weather and little snow in Kanto; no ice to slip on. Ash turned to her quickly while Gary also approached Misty. Gary clapped her on the shoulder, and Misty nodded; she didn't like goodbyes, so it was just better for them to be quick about it.

"It was a lot of fun—more people brought waaay more laughs this year." Misty chuckled, finally lacing up her boot. Delia approached her with almost a sad look as she wrapped the red-head into her arms in a hug.

"You don't come to visit enough." She whined, and Misty pat the mother on the back awkwardly. Delia had one too many to drinks.

"Thanks Delia—I promise to call." Misty chided, looking at the clock in the corner, she blasted away from Delia and grabbed her back.

"I really have to go!" Misty shouted, opening the door, she tossed out a quick "Bye Ash!" But he didn't even get a physical goodbye like his friends and mother did—no, she just ran away, leaving him standing awkwardly. Again. He grumbled slightly when Delia sniffled and touched her son's shoulders and leaned on them.

"I can't believe Christmas is over." She whined, and Ash awkwardly pat his mother on the head.

"There, there mom." he crooned while absent minded, looking at the door.

"Hey Gary, do you know who got me my gift?" he asked suddenly, thinking now that everyone was gone, he could claim the last prize.  
Gary rolled his eyes—he was also pulling on his jacket; along with Professor Oak; "She just left. Really? What else happened the first day of your journey. You're so dense sometimes." Gary groaned while patting his grandfather on the back to lead him out of the door—the old man was also drunk, so Gary had quite the challenge ahead of him.

Ash inhaled sharp, and then looked down at his mother; who was now helplessly dusting off her rug with a broom. Pikachu crawled in from the living room,watching him leave with a tummy ache, and a loud burp. Ash turned to look at Pikachu, planning on heading back up stairs for a nap; but then upon seeing pikachu tap his fingers on the wooden floor—Ash grimaced.

"...God, what am I doing?" Ash asked before grabbing his coat.

9:52 pm, outside of the train station.

She rubbed her hands together, impressed that she made it so far without breaking a sweat; of course, that might have been because it was so cold that she _couldn't sweat_. Seeing the lights of the train behind the windows made her legs work faster, at least, until she heard her name being called from behind her.

"Misty, wait up!" Ash called; his voice carrying over to where she was standing. She turned suddenly, looking at the boy tumbling towards her. "My mom said you left your shoes!" Ash cried.

She raised her eyebrows, the red blush of her face gone. For a moment, she thought it was going to be romantic; that he ran all the way out here in the crisp weather to confess his undying love. Of course not, silly Misty. She shook her head with a grin. She might have felt some remorse for leaving him under the mistletoe; even though she had; she also realized that if she and Ash did kiss, she didn't want it to be because of a stupid plant. A truly romantic at heart; Misty didn't think she could stand to have kissed him like that. Plus, she got cold feet and ran. She just didn't use the excuse for Christmas cookies as her reason to flee.

So, as he reached her, huffing and puffing from his run, he held out her shoes.

"Oh jeeze, you shouldn't have." She said with a quirk in her brow that made Ash chuckle. She stuffed them into her pack, they barely fit wile Ash tilted his head for a moment, watching her carefully. Since they were so close to the train—he could see that Misty would have time to talk for a moment, and so he exhaled. Better now than never.

"Thanks for the gift." He offered clumsily.

She cracked the faintest of smiles while pulling her bag back over her shoulder. "You figured it out?" her voice was skeptical, and Ash's quick shuffle of his feet assured her right away that he hadn't figured it out by himself.

"No...I asked Gary."

"And how did he know?"

Ash laughed at that, "I didn't ask." the way his good nature personality oozed from his body like a plague made her head spin; she found herself grinning along side.

A moment of silence was filled with cheap Christmas tunes while they shuffled their feet in unison. Hands stuffed in her pockets, she tilted her head at him and winked; "If you're not starting to travel again right away, you should come visit me at the gym." Misty offered.

"I would like that, but I think it's time I get started again. I can't mope around my house forever." he wiped his nose in a very Ash fashion and Misty sighed.

"Either way, it was nice seeing you for Christmas. Delia always had too many cookies left over when you weren't home!" Misty slapped him gently on the face, causing him to flinch and make a face at her.

"Honestly, if she wasn't so crazy with her mistletoe, I would have came back more—Well, that and most of the time I was legitimately busy," He paused thoughtfully, "You come every year?"

"Mostly. My sisters throw a big party in the gym that I'm not usually apart of; so, yeah. Delia always invites me."

Ash frowned in sympathy, but Misty shrugged it off as she listened to the train call it's last boarding call.

"Anyways, I just wanted to return that... so, I guess I'll be going." He leaned forward for just a moment, like he would hug her or kiss her, and her breath hitched up in her throat; but then backed out at the last second with his face blushing.

"It was nice seeing you again." he assured his old friend, and then started to turn away and make his trek back home.

Misty wasn't exactly sure what had come over her at that moment. She felt frozen. Her body was tingling with anticipation and joy. She had spent so many years watching Ash go back and forth; coming and going when ever he wanted, while she just waited. And waited, and waited. At some point—she needed to press forward; to jump, or leap, or twirl. She inhaled sharp. What better time to do so, than on Christmas eve? The wind died for a single moment, allotting her the time to rush forward, pumping energy into her legs.

"Ash, wait." She called, forcing Ash to stop and turn.

"What is-mmmmfthh" His question was gingerly cut off by Misty's lips being pressed against his. Her cherry chap stick leaving a unique, waxy feeling; on top of a sweet taste. While his eyes were wide open, hers were closed tightly—as if opening them would have caused her to lose her nerve.

The kiss lasted only a second, and a petrified yet astonished Misty pulled away with a bright, pink flush over her cheeks that Ash was sure didn't form because of the cold. Instinctively, he touched his lips; while she took several steps backwards.

"Now I'm leaving!" She called hurriedly, taking off into the train station; "Merry Christmas, Ash!" She screamed as the doors shut.

He watched her from outside, licking his lips in the cold air as the wind once again picked up speed. He could see her hurry onto the train, which had already started to move, and then only briefly glance back at him—where her face turned a deep red...and then, she was gone.

It hadn't sunk in yet for Ash; no, he stood there lopsided, head tilted and tapping his fingers against his lips, thinking over and over again what just happened.

Misty had kissed him! His face turned scarlet; of course this would happen to him. He spent the entire party dodging mistletoe—but then, as he gawked at the leaving train-he remembered who the red-head was: Misty didn't need a stupid plant to tell her when she could, and couldn't kiss someone!

A burning formed in the pit of his stomach on the trek back to his house; still licking his lips—still tasting her there. It hadn't been anything more than her pressing her soft lips against his rough lips, but it hung around him like a poison, until suddenly, he felt elated, and slightly scared, and then excited, and then mortified about what this new experience would bring him.

"Yeah, thanks Santa. Protected me from the mistletoe but not from the train station." He grumbled while running his hand over his face.

 **Author's Note:** Merry Christmas everyone ;) I wanted to add more information on the other characters, but alas I wanted this to be primarily about Ash and Misty. Sorry for the gag gifts; I could see this happening with a bunch of young adults, and know from experience, that this is the shit my friends put me through during secret Santa.

No hate for using the English dub "under the mistletoe" song as a reference, mmmkay? I know it wasn't canon; but, meh, what really is canon when writing fanfic? I thought it was a cute idea, and so I ran with it while being as vague as possible.

Also, tried the "time slot" form of writing for practice, but I don't think I liked it very much. Part 2 and 3 will not be formatted the same way; and once I get those two up, I will probably come back and edit and remove some stuff from this chapter.

Starting a story really hard sometimes. :(

MERRY CHRISTMAS


	2. Chapter 2: Family

**All I want for Christmas is... Part 2 of 3: Family**

The problem with kissing and running away was that Ash had little to no time to accept or reject the idea that was presented to him. With just under a year to think about it, Ash rolled over in his bed; successfully knocking off the black alarm clock beeping into his ear. It was 6:00a.m. on Christmas eve, a whole year after last year's mess. He sat up; scratching his dark hair and yawning. He tried to be up early every day, and Christmas was no exception—after seven years of blunders, he had forgone leagues and spent the last year-his eighth year-traveling, catching and training his pokemon. He won in some minor tournaments, made headlines with a few magazines and even brought home a couple of trophies and a pool of extra cash that he lacked when he traveled town to town looking for badges.

For the first time years, he felt successful, but entirely unfulfilled. A giant, gaping hole substituted where his happiness should have been. Rubbing his face, he maneuvered through his dark room and pulled on fresh jeans and a clean black t-shirt. Yawning once again, he poked at his pikachu who was sleeping at the foot of his bed. Stumbling forward through his room, he pulled his door open and then started down stairs. The scary thing, was that he was up before his mom on most occasions when he would visit; most of the time he would be up a good hour before she even stirred. As he moved down the flight of stairs to the kitchen, he noticed the total lack of decorations that had compared with last year—no streamers, no garland; and no mistletoe; just a tree in the corner of the living room. His mom let him know early on that only the Oak's would be attending this year. Tracey was out on a research party and –his heart fluttered- Misty was helping her sisters with a Christmas ball at Cerulean City gym.

While gnawing on his lip, he set out a bowl of poke-chow for pikachu, and started some frozen waffles in the toaster for himself. He thought often about the gym leader; half tempted on multiple occasions over the last year to call her; send her a letter, use that new phone he got last year to message her; but every time he tried—he got scared an backed out of it. It was like a lump had formed permanently in his chest and throat when ever he thought about his oldest companion. Even when he was around Cerulean City, he made no effort to go see her in fear that things would...well, he wasn't sure what they would be like; he was just nervous. And anxious, and the whole situation made his head worse.

He hoped that he would forget about it, and for awhile—he did. But as Christmas drew closer and stockings were hung up with care and presents wrapped and bought in nearly every store...he couldn't stop thinking.

In fact, the only reason he returned home for Christmas was because he thought, like every year, Misty would be attending Christmas with his mom—but Delia neglected to mention that Misty would not be coming until Ash was already here. So Ash's scapegoat of a plan was null, but he knew that he couldn't face _her_ without blushing and running away, so maybe if he was forced into seeing her; they could talk. Misty's absence left that impossible, however, and left that gaping hole in his chest whistling even louder. While in thought, Ash shuffled to the refrigerator and thoughtfully took the last of the orange juice from the door, and screwed the lid off before putting it to his lips and drinking. If anything, the thought of her was the reason he worked six times harder this last year—it was his way to burn out that warm kiss etched permanently into the back of his mind. If he was sitting still, he couldn't get his brain off of it—like a permanent plague haunting his every motion. Somewhere, after her lack of calling him; he thought that it might have been simply a "goodbye" kiss, and nothing more; but his heart ached when he thought of it like that. In fact, if he thought of it as something more, his heart ached as well; but if he busied himself to the point of being unable to think of it at all—he was much happier.

Nonetheless, Christmas made the task of _forgetting_ almost impossible. Every time a cold breeze struck him on the face, he could remember the touch of her soft...

He thanked god when the waffles popped up from the toaster. Food was always a welcomed, and wonderful distraction, he thought with a wide grin. He snatched them up while burning his fingers slightly. He didn't bother to coat them with anything, he had a mission—a mission to go buy his mother's Christmas gift, and his secret Santa gift which happened to be for Gary. Without so many people, though, he thought deducing who bought what was going to be ridiculously easy. Ash rushed to the front door; throwing on his black coat while holding his waffles between his teeth. A sharp jingle radiated from his neck while his jacket shifted against his body. He still wore the necklace that Misty gave him last Christmas, but often tried to keep it tucked under his shirt so that it wouldn't draw too much attention. It became sort of like his hat to his everyday attire—only, he rarely took it off; so it became more like a second skin; often forgetting that he was even wearing it.

Dressed for the winter and partially fed; he pulled open the door to see that six inches of snow laid crisp on the ground—still undisturbed until he grabbed the snow shovel and started to scoop it away from the walk. After finishing his short chore; he started for the soon to be busy streets of the Pallet Town Market.

 **xoxoxxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoooxooxox**

Gifts were open around the same time as last year, 8:00pm. Delia and Professor Oak exchanged gifts, and Ash as Gary did as well; Gary bought Ash a proper pokedex case so that it would be waterproof; and Ash bought Gary a poketablet.

"Wow, you got better at gifts." Gary had chimed carelessly, making Ash glare at his old rival. It wasn't until the two Oak's left for the evening, that Ash and his mom sat on their couch under red blankets with hot cocoa and popcorn while watching "It's a wonderful life". A tradition that they started years ago around the time that Ash's father stopped showing up. Since Ash started his journey, they didn't have very much time to spend as just the two of them, mother and son; and so they squeezed that into a short movie after the festivities were over.

During a commercial break, Ash got up to grab another cookie, one for him, and one for Pikachu who sat perched on the shoulder of the couch; he gnawed on it aimlessly, as Delia muted the television, drawing his attention to his mother.

"There isn't anywhere else you wanted to be tonight, Ash? You sounded pretty busy the last time I talked with you. I honestly wasn't suspecting you home for Christmas."  
At his mother's kind tone, he swallowed his cookie and furrowed his eyebrows, trying to think of somewhere else he would want to be, "Nope, this is it I'm pretty sure. How could I turn down Christmas cookies?" He asked but that answer didn't seem to fit the answer that Delia wanted.

"What about your training? You didn't join a league this year." Delia added, and Ash could already feel where the conversation was going; he cast his eyes to the fireplace and licked his lips. His mother worried that Ash would be moving into the 'dead end' zone; and it was just like Christmas to bring the worry in.

"I was taking time to improve."

"But what about girls? Isn't there anyone that you like?"

"Mom, I really don't want to talk about this. I'm fine, and I have it figured out...I'm just.." He paused, looking at Pikachu's brown eyes, "Taking time to reflect." He added thoughtfully, as the movie came back on. Delia exhaled, and then got up quickly whilst un-muting the television. It was Christmas, and she wasn't going to berate her son about his future on this holiday—one of the few times she ever got to see him.

"Let me go get another cup of cocoa." She said while taking Ash's drink and leaving him on the couch to ponder his own thoughts. He looked at the black and white picture of the little girl being held up to the Christmas; he knew the words without hearing them "Every time a bell rings, and Angel gets their wings". Unconsciously, he had twisted the necklace around his neck over his thumb and curled his lips. When his mother returned, he was pulling on his blue light jacket, and cap.

"Where are you going?" She asked while blinking at him. He shrugged a little, and then tossed her a genuine grin.

"I just remembered that there was some place I wanted to go today." He said causing Delia's face to soften.

"And where's that?" She asked her only son, forcing a crimson color to shade his cheeks. He shuddered.

"I'll tell you when I get back. Thanks for dinner, mom. I'll see you in a few days." He walked up to his mother, hugged her gently, and then in a second later, he grabbed his winter jacket and was out the door with Pikachu on his heels.

 **xoxoxxoxoxxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxxoxox**

If he didn't leave right away, he wouldn't have commit to this very poor and under thought situation he threw himself into. He paced back and forth, shaking his limbs to regain feeling and blowing on his frosted hands while eying a building only a few steps away.

Ash stood outside the Cerulean City gym, feeling like a tool. The place was lit of up tons of lights, every shrub and bush was eloquently illuminated, and red bows hung on almost every wire. Along with that, everyone who scuffled around inside that he could see through the large front window was dressed to the nines in full tuxedos or suits and sparkly floor length dresses. While he was dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt. Attempting to improve his look somewhat, he slowly peeled off his hat, and then curled it into his back pocket.

His mother did not lie when she said that it was like a 'ball'. He would stick out like a sore thumb in there, but he was counting on it. He told himself he wanted to attention, otherwise, he would talk himself out of it and walk home. Pressing himself through the familiar metal doors of the cerulean city gym, he could see that the swimming pool had been closed and covered with large metal doors. A huge Christmas tree stood brimming in the corner beside it; and the ceiling had more streamers and lights than he could count—along with that, there was a strict area for dancing coded by the fake floor over the pool, and another area for eating where hundreds of chairs were lined up. He ditched his black coat at the door while he started his adventure. Patting Pikachu on the head, he lured the small rodent to the buffet, and dropped him off of his arm. Most of the food ws gone, the booze was well dived into; and the gifts left under the tree were the empty ones left around for decoration—it was no secret that showed up as the party was ending.

"Do not get in trouble." He hissed while Pikachu tossed him a look of pure innocence; as if the rat pokemon had never tried to eat everything on the buffet table before. But Ash stuck out already, he didn't need Pikachu making it three times worse. They parted was as a few people saw him and whispered under their breath—but he didn't pay them any attention. His focus was on finding a tomboyish red-head in the sea of french twists and long curly dreads. Ash stayed clear of the main dance floor, staying toward the edge of the party and away from any suits and dresses. He glanced briefly over everyone's face, and if he hadn't see her face, he wouldn't have even recognized Misty.

She was being swung around carelessly by some guy in a blue suit. He had auburn hair, but Ash couldn't quite place his finger on who it was exactly; after a moment, Ash deduced that it was someone he had never met before. Misty looked clearly uncomfortable dancing with him, or annoyed; Ash couldn't tell. She definitely looked different in the year that it took for him to seek her out—her hair was long past her shoulders now, ending right above her mid back; tied half-up with a golden beret. She wore a floor length gown as well, red in color—but not quite as poofy as the rest of the guests; her's hugged her hips nicely, with sleeves that dropped off her shoulders, and a bedazzled top. She looked elegant, but not overly dressed. She looked practical, and slightly in pain.

When the song ended; he hadn't really been listening to it—some classical nonsense that he would exchange for cheesy Christmas music any day—the couple he watched parted. As they separated, Ash tried not to stare while Misty gave a slight curtsy, and then turned to leave without giving him a second thought. He could see the slump in his shoulders as she left, but it made Ash feel elated. She rolled her eyes in a way that made Ash grin slightly as he made his way around the gym to where she was going, pushing past randoms, and ignoring rude comments about his attire.

Her B-line was the place behind the tree right beside the side entrance door that lead to the balcony porch; on a slightly raised platform that she had to climb a few steps to get to, and away from the party and guests. She yanked on her dress to move with her; tired and frustration written across her neatly painted face. He knew, probably better than most, that Misty hated dressing up—and he could only think of what concoction of lies her sisters told her to get her to dress up and attend a ball tonight. He slid behind one chair, taking the opposite stairs to reach her, and she hadn't looked up to see him, in fact she pulled on one of her pressed nails, cursing about the holiday when Ash swooped in, taking her left hand in his right, and gently laying his left hand against her waist as he spun her.

She almost freaked out; Ash saw the temper flare in her green eyes, and her knee raise to the challenge of being forced to dance _without her permission_ until she looked up to see his sparkling, guilty brown eyes. Her face flushed immediately, as if she had been caught playing dress up.

"Ash, what are you doing here?" She asked, half-joyfully, half-terrified. He could only shut his eyes, and offer her a grin as a smile tugged on her pursed lips; even though her eyebrows were still knit together.

"Hey, Misty. I came for the party." he lied, spinning her around slowly, and awkwardly; he was never the best at dancing, so it didn't take long for Misty to take the lead, and he was okay with that. She raised her eyebrows, her look of dissatisfaction disappearing instantaneously.

" Really?" She paused and cocked her jaw, "You're not even dressed right." She said, gesturing towards his causal clothes. He laughed nervously.

"I thought I looked fine—at least I'm not dirty." He pouted, catching her attention. She narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"For traveling, but this is a Christmas party, and everyone is looking at you." She groaned while they slowly broke apart.

"So, in turn...everyone is looking at you?" He offered, forcing Misty to turn six shades of red.

She glanced around, and noticed that indeed, she was being watched—a few eyes from her sisters, some from her pokemon students; and more than she could count from guests. Gulping, she grabbed Ash's hand quickly, and then yanked him out the side door to get him out of the party, and away from the lime light. He yelped as she tugged on him, and then tossed him forward toward the railing of the outdoor pool. She waited a moment before she turned around, and the party had returned to it's normal fashion rather quickly; allowing Misty to sigh. She had so many things she wanted to yell at Ash over; but this one was just... She spun around, putting her hands on her hips.

"First, you don't call in months, now you show up at a formal party dressed like-" Mid-turn, he had grabbed her, one had on her cheek, the other on her upper arm and then stepped dangerously close to her; but then hesitated for a moment. Misty flushed, "Ash, what are yo-mmm"

His lips landed on hers desperately, inhaling as they finally crashed into the figment of his torment the last year. Automatically, his body relaxed, his shoulders drooped and he wanted to melt into the ground. Then again, Misty's eyes remained wide open for only a fraction of a second, until his tongue glided over her lips, and she let out a frustrated moan, closing her eyes like his had been. Slowly, she eased into the kiss as Ash's lips parted along with hers. Moving by instinct rather than by practice, their tongues intertwined gently. She tilted her head further to the left, pressing her lips against his ambitiously when he suddenly pulled away. His hands fell to his sides, and Misty hadn't realized that she hadn't moved hers until her hands shot forward to cling onto the hem of his blue coat.

Her face matched the color of her dress, Ash thought, but he couldn't say his face was any better. It was freezing out, but his entire body was over heated. Unable to take her eyes off of his, she watched as he licks his lips. Instinctively, she licked hers in return; tasting cocoa, while he tasted something sweeter.

"You had wine earlier."

If possible, her face grew another shade of red, starting at her collar and up to her forehead; she reached up to touch her glossy lips when Ash moved forward to kiss her again without thinking. Reacting before he could move, she hit him in the face, jarring his accuracy. Ash stumbled over and almost crashed into the wall, blinking wildly. Suddenly, Misty's surprise and embarrassment was funneled through anger as she grit her teeth.

"What do you think you're doing, Ash?" She groaned with narrowed eyes. Confused, Ash's eyes shifted, looking at the clouded sky and fallen snow while pulling on his shirt she had been holding seconds ago.

"...Kissing you?" he suggested, but Misty stomped her right foot and pointed at him while holding her dress with her right hand

"but _why?!_ You don't get to just show up whenever you want and then kiss me after missing for _an entire year._ " She hissed whilst grabbing him by the collar; he laughed nervously, lips turned upward slightly.

"I'm sorry? I just didn't have the nerve..." He offered pleadingly but that didn't sooth Misty's anger.

"Why do you think it's okay to kiss me? What if I had a boyfriend, huh?"  
"Because it's Christmas..." He whined, and then stared up at her with big, doe eyes. "..Do you?"

She scoffed, "Well, no, but that's not the point! You can't just kiss me because it's Christmas."

Ash's cheeks turned red again, feeling a chill run up his spine; he answered before his brain could okay his words: "Then I did it because I like you."

"You can't change your answer!" She yelled, stomping her foot again. He could see goose flesh forming over her skin because of the cold; automatically reaching out to touch her shoulder to share his warmth. His hand was so warm, even though it shouldn't have been. It was cold outside. She pulled away from him.

"Why not, they're both true?" He spoke softly, but it only edged her on while she released his collar and pressed her hand against her forehead.

"Ash..." She huffed while clucking her tongue against her teeth. This was not how she envisioned any type of romantic gesture- but from him, she shouldn't have been surprised. She was stunned that he even traveled to see her on Christmas; wasn't that technically pretty romantic? Although, she didn't know what to say, part of her wanted to yell that he didn't talk to her for a year, and the other part of her wanted to scream her feelings at the top of her lungs. Meeting in the middle, however, she couldn't speak anything; words caught in her throat while she tapped her hand against her thigh.

Her sudden silence radiated a much different tone for Ash; making him feel like a statue asthe heat flowing through his body was suddenly gone, replaced by the cold, harsh sting of rejection. He inhaled, straightening out his jacket as he moved to get out of her way.

"Sorry...I guess I shouldn't have come by." He finally said, shifting his feet. Maybe he had waited too long, maybe her kiss meant nothing after all? He wasn't sure, but she didn't seem happy that he showed up—maybe he just came on too strong. But it wasn't his fault, he didn't know what he was doing!

In his attempt to brush past her, she held firm, standing strong in front of him before her fingers curled into the fabric over his chest, and then yanked him towards her.

 _Thump. "Ow!_ " He cried. Unlike the romantic movies she had seen though; pulling him in such a rushed angle forced his forehead to bump into hers, letting out a horrible yelp as they retracted and held their heads.

"What in the world was that Misty?" He complained, having thought that she intentionally hit him. She staggered for a moment, cursing, swearing and then finally clicked her red, uncomfortable heels and approached him evenly. Without speaking, she licked her lips and gazed into his eyes dutifully. Carefully, her eyes shifted, staring into his brown ones as if searching for the correct words to say and when she finally cocked her jaw to one side; he grinned nervously.

"I like you, too, Ash." She finaly spoke and then dramatically threw her arms around his neck, forcing herself up onto her tip-toes as she kissed him gregariously. Unlike usual, he didn't hesitate; his mouth parted for hers easily as her tongue darted inside. A little heavy for a 'third' kiss, but he didn't complain, in fact he wrapped his arm around her waist, and lifted her up by the small of her back, and spun her in a circle, gaining an illicit squeal from her as he did.

"Stop, it's cold!" She whined, still red in the face, but Ash didn't hear her; only jeered as he fell into the railing covered in snow. Falling onto a frosty bench with squeals of laughter, the new couple found themselves gazing at each other. Misty's long hair had fallen over her shoulders and Ash brushed it away slightly while she squared her shoulders at his touch.

"Next time bring some flowers—or dress up a little bit. Maybe comb your hair?" She joked while hitting him gently in the chest with the back of her hand. Ash only grinned at this while slowly wrapping his arms around her.

"You know I'm not good at this stuff." He rung while shifting his fingers over her corset top nervously. She quirked an eyebrow, about to speak again when the side door swung open.

"Misty, like, your boyfriend can't be here if he—oh." Daisy said, half drunk as she stormed the balcony. Misty shuddered, screaming internally while she grabbed handfuls of snow and launched it at Daisy before she could say anything.

"Leave!" Misty squealed, breaking away from Ash immediately as Daisy cowered back into the house, laughing and screaming back: "It's about time!"

Misty huffed while she dusted the cold snow off her hands onto the fluffy part of her dress. She was standing again when Ash came up behind her and pushed her toward the left side the balcony that wrapped around to the front of the gym. It was Christmas, and as tradition would find them, they should be eating cookies, dodging mistletoe and watching Christmas movies, not being forced to dance and be around drunk people. He tugged on her arm gently while leading her to the front of the gym.

"You heard her, I can't stay! So, you'll just have to come with me." He scooted her forward, pushing on her back while her eyes widened.

"W-what? Ash I can't leave."

"Why not? I'm stealing you." He whined, dipping his head back into the party through the metal doors long enough to grab his coat off the wrack, and snap his fingers for Pikachu to come bounding out.

"I don't have any of my things, or a coat; and where are we going?" She panicked, while Ash plopped his winter coat over her shoulders as Pikachu climbed on his.

"We're not going far, just changing scenery. You looked miserable in there." He paused awkwardly tapping his hand against hers. "Where's your sense of adventure?" He said while hopping down the stairs and taking her hand fully, pulling her along.

"With my sneakers and pants." She groaned in return, but squeezed his hand lovingly in return as he dragged her off somewhere into the cold, winter night. Honestly though, he didn't think it mattered where they went, so long as it was away from some stuffy, old party and classical music.

 **Xoxxoxooxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxo**

He dragged her nearly half a mile into the dead town before she started to wail that she couldn't go anymore. They were away from the breast of the fresh fallen snow, and were on the clear sidewalks of Cerulean City, heading towards central park when she limped tiredly to the wall. She pressed her hand against it, pulling on her dress so that she could see her shoes, and rubbed her ankle achingly. He hadn't seen them before, but they easily gave her four more inches of height, and were sparkly and red.

"I honestly thought you would wear sneakers with a dress." Misty rolled her eyes, letting her dress down again.

"The things girls do to look nice is ridiculous." She warned him while waving him over. Wearily, he did as she commanded and took her arm to balance her as she raised her right foot and then dropped it, and then with a solid crack he jolted.

"What was that?!" he jeered while looking down, but Misty held him firm and then did the same with her left foot, releasing another loud crack. When she let go of him and stepped away; Ash was amazed to see that she was much shorter. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Did you just break your shoes?"

"Yes, I did. But they were a cheap pair from the nickel so it doesn't matter." The way she spoke and how her shoulders rose confidently screamed that she was proud of herself for breaking the stiletto demons. Her next task, she ran her fingers through her hair carelessly, and Ash watched as it started to fall out. He would have questioned her, but by the time she removed the extensions; he realized that it was simply the same ones that she used for her mermaid costume.

His jaw dropped, her hair was actually _really_ short. An inverted bob that framed her face wonderfully, even the piece with the golden clip was fake. Misty took the removed hair and knotted it up into a ball before stashing it away into Ash's coat.

"That is much better." She commented while shaking her head, adjusting to the new lightness of her head.

"And here I thought that you grew your hair out finally." Ash spoke quietly, feeling a bit embarrassed that he hadn't realized that it was a prop. Misty pressed forward, taking his hand back into hers—an act that still sent shivers down Ash's spine—and started forward again with a much better trot than she had previously.

"Long hair isn't practical when I spend most of my time in a swimming pool." She confirmed, standing a bit closer to him. His face flared at her warmth; tempted to wrap his entire body around her body just to leech the heat from her. Pikachu, however, already beat him there; wrapping himself into the collar of his jacket that she was wearing.

She continued, blushing now that she saw him staring at her; "Where are we going, anyways?" She grumbled, having absolute positivity that _nothing_ was open on Christmas Eve, at least nothing that wasn't necessary. Even trains weren't manned anymore, so they could run all day and all night.

"Ahh, well. I haven't... actually gotten that far yet." He admit sheepishly, staring at the lights and decorations that hung from each window and street lamp. At his words, Misty almost fell down. Honestly though, she shouldn't have been surprised.

"What do you mean? You dragged me all the way out here to tell me that you had no idea where we are going?"

"...I said it would be an adventure.." He offered while shifting his gaze away from the angry red-head. She slapped her forehead in response.

"I'm in a dress, Ash. This isn't exactly the most comfortable attire to travel in!" She whined, pulling on her halter top for emphasis, but Ash looked away skeptically.

"Then why did you wear a dress?" He asked as if it were the simplest answer in the world; but Misty rubbed her face tiredly.

"Ash, you're killing me..." she groaned while he pushed her into the direction of central park, which was illuminated nicely with lights and decorations. A few other unfortunate souls were also still out in the cold, but Ash thought that none of them looked as pretty as Misty did. He pulled her along carefully, passed closed sleigh rides, over a short bridge, and through a tapestry of tree lights that made the two of them awestruck and dazzled.

Finally, when he reached the edge of central park, near the train station, he finally paused and looked at Misty, who gave him a very unsatisfied and disheartened glare. He tried to grin through it, and then exhaled softly.

"Come back to Pallet Town with me for Christmas." he offered while scrunching up his nose; she frowned deeply, and licked her lips, glancing sideways at the train station.

"How lost did you get to find out that the train station was beside Central park?" She mumbled honestly, watching his face turn from nervousness to embarrassment. The trees that bordered central park mostly covered the general area, and gave the fake impression in the dark, that central park was a small forestry area.

"I actually got lost in Central Park?" He laughed casually, causing her eyes to brighten. It was no wonder he maneuvered through the park so well in the middle of the night, even with the lights, Misty wouldn't have known where she was going. Very slowly, she removed her hand from his, and pressed it against his frost light jacket.

"Ash, I can't go with you to Pallet Town." She mumbled, surprised at her words. She looked up at him with her green eyes, half expecting to see sadness in his—but instead, she saw acceptance.

"I thought it would be silly to ask." That was when she kicked him in the shin gently, trying hard not to grin.

"You could have asked at the gym!" She complained jokingly as he leaned over to grab his shin and then in response shot forward, tackling her at the waist and lifting her up playfully. She howled in joy at the sudden action as Ash brought her right back down to her feet; only he didn't break the hold he had around her waist. Ducking his head gently against her forehead, where he planted a soft, blush inciting kiss, he sighed. Her body was so warm, so comfortable in his arms that he almost didn't even _dare_ to let go. She felt the same, but the logical side of her still felt like she was walking in a fairy tale and so she fought it, and wriggled out of his arms very slowly until they were standing, facing one another.

She cleared her throat worriedly; "Ash, I appreciate...everything." She responded slowly, unable to make eye contact with him, instead, she focused on a small tear in his coat that she could extend her polished fingers to and pull on. "But after Christmas, where does that leave us? You can't expect this to be just a fling;" She paused, scrunching up her face, "I mean, I didn't hear from you all year, and then you show up an exact year after I kissed you last year—and while yes, I like you—I'm not stupid enough to think this will go anywhere." She admit, finally looking up at his eyes, only to see a fierce determination there, lodging with sadness.

"A fling?" He suggested, as if the appalling idea had never occurred to him. "I don't even know what that means." He laughed, making light of the situation. His joke only made Misty stand more firm in her decision as she exhaled.

"It's when you only show up when its convenient for you, Ash." She redirected his comment, dropping her hand away from him as if he had caught fire. He looked visibly hurt at her response, and bit down hard on the inside of his cheek.

"I don't only show up when it suits me." He defended but didn't have anything else to offer. Misty sighed, listening to "jingle bells" playing from the train station radio.

"Then why did you wait a whole year to talk to me?" She questioned in a way that he felt like he had been stabbed. "And before that, I only saw you for holidays—you rarely called, if at all, and if I saw you—I had to put the effort in. I mean, I went a long with this because...I don't know, I'm stupid, and naive—but I'm not about to put myself through this again, and again, waiting for you to sharpen up year after year." she shook her head and took another step back, this time while unzipping the jacket he lent her.

"I can't do this Ash." She reaffirmed with a stiff sigh as she tugged off his jacket and then tossed it into his arms. Pikachu, as well, broke away from the red-head, and watched her sadly from the ground. As usual, the lump in his throat formed, stealing his words right from his mouth as he tried to speak to her. Instead, he found himself opening and closing his mouth as she offered him a very slow smile and slight nod. His heart raced in his chest, and before he knew it he had grabbed her wrist and swung her around. Letting his jacket fall onto the snow, Pikachu used it to take cover from the fight that it thought would inevitably happen.

"You can't do what, Misty?" He jabbed, frowning, "You didn't even try." He added shamefully, causing Misty to turn on him, but not out of anger, she tried to remove her wrist from his firm grip, but found that she couldn't. Huffing, she spun to face him once again.

"Did you even think about what happens after tonight?" She asked suddenly, without any anger in her voice. It caught Ash by surprise.

"Honestly?" He scoffed, "No, I hadn't." She rolled her eyes at this, and then properly removed his hand by forcing it off with her left, but upon seeing both of her hands free, he instinctively took them both into his larger ones.

"Did you think about what happened after you kissed me last year? Maybe I expected you to call me, or to email me." He offered, feeling rather heated from the discussion, and somehow very devastated. She obviously hadn't thought about that, her face turned bright red as he brought up the two second kiss from last year.

"No...I hadn't." She echoed his former statement.

"Then how can I know what happens after tonight? I thought you would call and explain, or something. But instead, I traveled around three regions catching and training day and night because I couldn't get you out of my head!" He confessed, only partially shouting for emphasis. Misty's face contorted and she sucked in her lips again.

"You're supposed to be the romantic one! I'm lucky if I can roll out of bed without putting my shirt on backwards, let alone expected to control the flow of a _relationship._ " When the last word rolled off his tongue, Misty's heart rang aflutter, and she felt oddly dopey standing there looking at the desperately confused boy. _Relationship._ She hadn't even looked at it in that way, in her mind, Ash was just being Ash—returning something without having actually thought about it. She had put her foot in her mouth and nearly screwed the entire situation up. He looked worried, incapable of understanding the issue that she was having; so he sucked in the cold air and continued.

"So, yeah, maybe I-"

"Ash, it's okay." She interjected, holding her hand up to his face. He shook his head. If something was wrong, he told himself it was definitely not okay; because this situation _needed_ to be okay.

"No it's not." He said, flabbergasted as she pressed in closer to him.

"I'm sorry." She added, and then stood up high on her tip-toes to kiss him softly on the lips. His entire body turned a shade of red while Pikachu peeked from the discarded black jacket, and giggled at the confused young adults. When she pulled away, she scrunched up her face again he felt more lost than he had at the start.

"I'm being weird." She uttered, which a nod from Ash confirmed.

"Yeah, you are." He said with a sheepish grin, Misty pinched his arm gently, feeling his cold skin.

"Don't push your luck." She warned him, but he looked down at her as she walked to retrieve his jacket from the snow. She plucked the dark item and then carefully wrapped pikachu up into a ball, and raised her eyebrows while looking back at Ash. His head was tilted in thought as he watched her move, until she winked at him.

"Well, are we going?" She asked, making Ash's heart flutter. He raced to her.

"Going where?" He asked meekly while he stepped through a little bit of snow to cut into the train station platforms.

"To Pallet Town." She groaned while rolling her eyes. Feeling like he could fly, he took her hand, and watched the screen light up across from them—they were lucky, a train would leave in about thirty minutes back to Pallet Town.

"What changed your mind?" he asked suddenly while they walked into the warm terminal. He let out a very satisfied sigh as the heat enveloped him—as did Misty, who was also freezing. She shot him a persian like grin.

"I don't think my sisters could get mad at me for spending Christmas with my _boyfriend_." She tried, watching his face turn deep red. He pulled on his collar uncomfortably and looked at her with the corners of his mouth twitching.

"b-boyfriend?" He stammered, quirking his eyebrows. Misty had to force herself not to grin—he was so slow to the upkeep that it was absolutely adorable, but, she kept her cross gaze.

"That's right, we are _dating_ now, aren't we?" She suggested, making Ash jump while Pikachu squealed in joy in her arms.

"Well..." He started but Misty wasn't hearing it as she marched to the automatic ticket booths.

"You can't just _kiss_ a girl, and then _kidnap_ her, and then _ask her_ to spend Christmas with you _without_ dating, can you?" As she spoke, eyes closed knowingly, Ash nervously laughed. She turned at him with one raised eyebrow and pursed lips—and it was at that moment that he knew she was just playing with him he frowned and glared at her, and then ripped their tickets out of the auto-booth and cracked a mischievous smile.

"But that's how I invite everyone?" He suggested, sounding surprised at her accusations when her face suddenly deflated. She twitched as Ash started to grin and run for the open doors of the train.

"Ash, you don't really, do you?" He didn't offer her a reply; of course it wasn't true, but if she was going to push his buttons, it was fair game, wasn't it? She followed after him while holding her dress to keep up. She had him pinned into one of his seats in a second while he let out little bells of laughter. She dropped Pikachu into the seat opposite him and then playfully jabbed him in the stomach.

"Do you!?" She yelped, half smiling. He bellowed and then snatched her by the waist to bring her down beside him, and partially onto his lap. He could get used to the physical closeness, he thought.

"Of course not." He finally added, settling down long enough to look her in the eye. She licked her lips again, and then as if they didn't need more of a reason, she pointed upward, where Ash saw the evil-red-berried-plant hanging above their seat. Staring back at one another, she took the half-lap position seriously, and swung her legs over his, causing her dress to essentially work as a blanket as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him indefinitely closer. There was just no getting away from that stupid plant.

"Merry Christmas." He groaned with an eye roll that Misty subdued with her lips.


	3. Chapter 3: You

**All I want for Christmas is... Part 3 of 3: You**

Calling from a payphone in the Sinnoh region, he blew on his frozen hands. Slipping the quarters into the money slit, his frosty fingers struggled against the booths door. Maybe fingerless gloves weren't the best idea, after all? Clicking in the familiar numbers, he exhaled while pulling on his torn winter coat. Sinnoh region was three times colder than most places in Kanto could ever be. Winters were harsh here and he was just pulling out of a freak snow storm on his way back to Sunnyshore city. He had meant to grab the ferry home, but because of the weather, he was only...two and a half days late.

Christmas Day was already almost over.

When the receiver finally clicked, all he was met with was his mother's voice mail box; stumbling to find the right words to say, he inhaled, and exhaled, leaving a few seconds of silence before he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey mom, it's me. I know that I said that I would be home a couple of days ago, but I got stuck in that freak blizzard that cut through eastern Sinnoh. I'm on my way now...uhh," he paused, wondering if he should add the next part: "if Misty's there, tell her I'm sorry. See you soon." He hung up the phone while diving his hands into his pockets shortly after, feeling more and more unsatisfied while he combed the streets for a carrier that left on Christmas day. Trains were open on Christmas eve, but on Christmas day; nothing moved. The young pokemon trainer sighed while looking out to the docks.

"Let's see if there's anything down there..." He mused sadly, scratching behind Pikachu's ears, who cradled himself in the chest of Ash's jacket.

A week ago, Misty had called him a billion times to make sure he would be home on Christmas. He was running in the Elite-four program, and wanted to make sure that she had plenty of time off, but he screwed that up. He hadn't seen her in person since he finished the Kanto region championship _eight months ago._ While he took the title of champion of the league; he was unable to defeat the region champion after he defeated the elite-four, and went on to sulk for a few months before deciding to try his luck in Sinnoh once again. Building quite the name for himself, however, he was starting to gain attention from the media—so Misty could always see him on television when he joined an advanced trainer tournament, and league match. Being who she was, she always called him, asked him when he was going to re-challenge the elite-four and region champion in Kanto, but he never had an answer for her. Yet, she supported him anyways. Even when she had no good reason to.

Right now, he was focusing on becoming league champion of Sinnoh; or in other words, he was avoiding the fact that his life, while fun and adventurous, was turning into a mundane attempt to relive the continuous, endless journey that he never seemed to come out on top of. At least he had started to win in the leagues, though.

That was an improvement.

However, Ash still felt unfulfilled, and the thoughts plagued him endlessly. So, when Misty called to check up on him, it was like taking a break from his life, joining in with her on a much simpler and happier existence. He honestly wished her could see her more often—but he felt like if he did, he would be disappointing his own pokemon and his dreams. Last week when she called, she, in a very inappropriate and loud way, reminded him that "Boyfriends buy their girlfriends _good_ Christmas gifts, Ash." At the memory of her voice, he instinctively lapsed his fingers around the necklace she had given him two Christmas's ago.

She was giving him a hard time- referencing his terrible taste the last ten years in regards to shopping for other people, but her words were also full of so much truth it hurt. Embedded in her voice was an ache he couldn't heal over the phone; so he sighed loudly.

A few weeks ago, he had troubled himself through the Sunnyshore market while holding pikachu like a football. Wafting through large crowds of the Christmas shopping rush, he had no idea what to get the woman as a gift. Misty was horrible to shop for. So even after her comment about buying a _good_ gift, she had followed up and text him: "A good gift idea would be being able to see you on Christmas." To which he promised that he would be home. _He promised._ And if he could have actually been there... that would have been a wonderful gift.

And yet, here he was, struggling to think of an appropriate gift, and a now, a way to get home. Unable to text or call anyone because he dropped his gear into six feet of snow down a ten foot mountain drop; he wasn't able to call her when he was stuck in the storm; in fact, he was lucky he walked out mostly unscathed; because things could have made a horrible turn for the worst.

Thus, Ash was forced to wait until he was in Sunnyshore to call. When his feet touched the the docks that could easily take him to Kanto region in under two hours, he exhaled in defeat. All the boats were docked, the lights were off, and services were closed. At this point, he thought several times about summoning Charizard to come and give him a lift—but with Ash being a little over six foot, and Charizard only standing at 5'7", Ash wasn't sure the pokemon would be up for the challenge of carrying the adult Ash across an ocean. Had be been a few years younger; he was sure the spry flying fire type would take him; but had he been a few years younger, he also wouldn't have been so eager to get home.

The young trainer thought for awhile that maybe he could call Lapris again—but that was a long shot as well. He hadn't seen the pokemon since he was in the Orange Islands, and he wouldn't make it to Kanto going at Lapris speed for at least seven hours. By that time, it would be nearly 10:00pm, and he would have missed all of the Christmas Day dinner, and the evening gifts, and the caroling; and really, everything he was excited about this holiday for—including seeing his-he gulped nervously-girlfriend.

Thinking about the stunning red-head, his lips burned. He thought that if he could get a hold of her, he would have even asked to borrow Gyarados at this point, just to get to Kanto. However, his girlfriend was not picking up at his mom's house, and being who he was, he had never bothered to remember her number—after all, it was saved in his gear-phone—he didn't need to.

Begrudgingly, after searching the shore line for even a nifty paddle boat, or motor boat up for grabs, he threw up his arms in failure. Unfortunately no matter which direction he looked, no matter how much he looked, he could see nothing available. With a sharp exhale he tucked his hands away into his pocket as Pikachu poked out from the inside of his warm jacket.

"...Pika?" the small pokemon asked, but Ash could only shake his head, foiled entirely.

"No, buddy. It looks like we'll be spending Christmas here this year." While he spoke, he turned away from the docks, and started his long walk back into the city. He could remember a cafe opening in the main city center—maybe they were open on Christmas? Sulking, he ascended the long painless stairs that would lead to the bright lights of the city. Even on Christmas, Sunnyshore was fairly active, unlike his own home in Kanto which had every store closed on Christmas Day. If only that same active nature effected transportation as well.

On his way to the cafe that he wasn't sure would even be open or not, he decided that it would be best to call his mother and explain his situation. Maybe even get a hold of Misty? But what was he supposed to say to Misty? She would understand, he knew her well enough to know that; but she would still be disappointed; and he didn't want to disappoint her _again_. Running his hand through his pockets however, he realized that he had no more change. Today couldn't get worse. Ash rubbed his face, sliding his hand over his eyes, he almost missed the prominent display of three figures appearing beside him.

As the familiar tones of Jessie and James started their motto beside him; Ash groaned and grunted in response. Apparently, things could get worse! Thanks Santa!

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie cried beside Ash, forcing him to groan again.

"And make it double!"

"to protect the-"

"No—you know, _no_ , guys." Ash threw up his arms and glared at his visitors, exhaling "Not right now, okay?" With that, he tucked his arms around Pikachu and started off in the opposite direction. Usually he would listen to their motto, and then let them attempt their silly antics, and then in the end, he would always win. It was a great way to keep him sharp, and keep him trained. However, he wasn't in the mood right now, and the small electric pokemon on his jacket wasn't either. He just wanted to go _home._

"Jessie! He ignored us!" James whined, throwing his gloved hand downward. Jessie grimaced while Meowth yelled.

"Hey Twerp, who do you think you're messing with!?" Meowth yelled, holding up their new net-gun; letting it fire off only to malfunction half-way through, and repel onto him, instead. Yelping, the cat pokemon started to scream at his companions as Ash didn't even bother to turn around.

Jessie crossed her arms, and James placed his hands on his hips while he looked onward at Meowth, who was now wiggling on the ground like a worm.

"He seems rather upset, doesn't he?" The purple haired man questioned while looking at his long time companions. Jessie grumbled while kicking Meowth forward, plummeting the pokemon through the snow rather than assisting him get untangled.

"Maybe he's having girl problems?" Jessie snipped while rolling her eyes, obviously upset herself that the wonderful team rocket was being ignored. Regardless, they followed Ash.

It was James who finally developed the nerve to speak to the dark-haired trainer.

"Hey, Twerp, not that we care. But what's wrong?" James asked Ash, finally getting a sigh from the boy in question who shrugged uncomfortably as he stopped to look at his long time stalkers. His brown eyes full of turmoil and guilt.

Team Rocket didn't bother Ash as much as he lead on, a part of him always associated that their presence there meant that he was doing something right—something amazing enough that the bad guys wanted what he had; but also, in a strange way, he thought of them as friends. Their presence was mostly always wanted, and seeing them left him slightly amused; like the crazy aunt and uncle that he never had. So, when James finally asked him, Ash only hesitated to answer for a short moment.

"I wanted to go home for Christmas this year; to see my family," He returned his gaze slowly to the dock, and sighed again, "but that doesn't seem to be happening."

A small tear formed in James' eyes. Always the sentimental one, he grabbed Meowth and squeezed the poor pokemon. Jessie slapped him in the head to get a grip of himself.

"I remember that feeling. My family stopped letting me come home after I joined Team Rocket." Jessie whined with a short sigh, elating a squeal of sympathy from meowth and James who grabbed their overly dramatic compatriot with salty tears flowing from their eyes. Ash watched them with sad eyes as they whined back and forth about their own family and lack of Christmas.

"Then it's settled!" James hollered, catching Ash's attention once more.

In unison, they all looked to Ash; "We will take you back to Kanto!"

He scoffed, thinking that they were joking at first; looking away to roll his eyes, but when he turned back at them and they didn't waver, a light formed in Ash's eyes.

"Really?" Ash said, elated while pumping his fists happily.

 **Xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxxoxoxxoxox**

Misty was at the Ketchum residence, sitting at the living room desk with a mug of hot cocoa while she replayed Ash's last message again: "Hey mom, it's me. I know that I said that I would be home a couple of days ago now, but I got stuck in that freak blizzard that cut through eastern Sinnoh. I'm on my way now...uhh...if Misty's there, tell her I'm sorry. See you soon."

She couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows at his words; feeling a mixture of worry and dread, she checked her phone once again—looking over the messages she sent him to check up on him over the last week, he hadn't replied to a single one, and he was usually great about getting back to her. She wouldn't have been so worried if he wasn't traveling alone in Sinnoh, where the snow pile was three times greater than the last couple of years.

When he called, she and Delia had only stepped out of the house for a moment to admire central park, which was full of lights and merriment. The idea that he chose then to call made her chest weak. Glad to know that he was okay, she was more worried than ever about what happened. He didn't leave a call back number, or a location—so she had no idea how to get a hold of him, and so her finger itched as she attempted to call his gear phone one more time. It went, as it had all week to an automatic dial tone, and she exhaled once again. Misty rubbed her temples, frustrated—she worried that he could die from his reckless behavior and she would be left standing alone. Over all, she disquieted him most of all.

Running her pale hands through her hair, she sipped on her mug, half tempted to go to Sinnoh herself to find him. He did say he would be home, but the defeat in his voice told her that he wasn't so sure. Plus the snow that hammered the eastern side of Sinnoh kept most planes on the ground and boats in dock—the fact that it was Christmas Day only added to the dilemma, and needless to say; the gym leader was beyond worried; hoping that he wouldn't do something reckless to try and keep his promise.

As the fire cracked in the fire pit she glared longingly at it. Ash would be here, she told herself, and he would be safe, because that's what Ash did.

 **Xoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

 **"** Just drop me off here!" Ash shouted, looking down below him as the buildings of Pallet started to form beneath him.

"Can do!" James cheered as he released some of the heat from the balloon so that it would drop from the air slowly. The giant meowth balloon descended at the edge of town, near Professor Oak's lab. All of the Christmas lights were hung up around the city; the sun had set nearly an hour ago so they illuminated the skies with bright, vibrant colors. His eyes grew in response; shining at each twinkle as he came crashing to the ground with a sharp thud. He was so eager to get home and distracted by the lights that he hadn't noticed that they were falling rather fast,

"Owww..." Ash said while rubbing his head, securing Pikachu into his arms out of habit. Jessie bonked James over the head, and started to scold him.

"What kind of landing was that?"

"I'm sorry, Jessie; I just got distracted by the lights!"

"That's not a good reason you knuckle head!" Meowth chimed in, causing Ash to snigger while rubbing his nose. He hoped out of the green balloon, and looked down at his pokedex for the time.

"Thanks guys, but I have to go!" Ash cheered, and then before they could respond, he started down the road to his house—but stopped once again upon realizing a slight error; he raced back to them, and then exhaled; "If you guys aren't busy, why don't you stop in; my mom would love the guests; plus, I owe you now." Ash said with a sweet smile.

Team rocket froze, as if unable to believe the words coming out of Ash's mouth. "The twerp is..." Jessie said, tears sparkling at the edge of her eyes, and Meowth and James'.

Blubbering, Meowth shook his head, "Naw! Get out of here! We got lotsa' places to be on Christmas!" Meowth lied, waving his paw at the yellow pokemon and it's trainer. Ash shrugged sadly in response.

"Alright, but if you change your minds; the invitation remains." With that, he turned and started back down the road; happy to see that not a single speck of snow was on the ground this year- great Kanto weather. He bolted full of glee to his house.

 **xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxox**

Misty paced the living room, watching the clock like a hawk while Delia sipped her yearly red wine as she lounged on the couch and watched a re-run of " Pokemon: A Christmas Story" play back to back while Misty couldn't sit still. Delia, having spent more years than she could count worrying over Ash, had mostly become numb, and instead decided that while she would worry; she would also drink. There was no reason not to enjoy herself on Christmas. She looked over at the tree, which was empty aside from the two gifts that sat below for Ash; and she swished her wine in her glass.

"I miss having kids on Christmas. Telling them about Santa Clause and spoiling them rotten..." She crooned while looking up at Misty and giving a tipsy smile, "Don't you want kids?" She asked, causing Misty to shudder as she walked into the hallway beside the living room and started to gnaw on her nails.

That was the third time that night Delia asked inadvertently if Misty was going to bring her 'grandchildren' any time soon; the answer was no, but if Misty denied Delia; then Delia would accuse her of thinking about it, and then gush for hours about names and 'baby' tricks and how cute their little round heads were. Misty refused to ever make that mistake again, so instead, she ran into the hallway, away from talks about babies. Ripping her thumb nail off, Ash had jotted up to the door step and exhaled as his cold hands touched the door; and then swung it open to see none other than Misty staring right back at him, a little ways down the hall.

Her face flushed with relief first, and then with frustration as she stomped her bare heels into the ground to reach him. When her arms started to extend, her frustrated look washed into one of pure bliss, and Ash could relate most with that one as his own arms shot forward and he caught Misty half way in a long awaited hug.

"You made it." She croaked snuggling into his big black jacket that he hadn't bothered to remove since leaving Sinnoh; his shoes were dirty, and his face had soot all over it; but he was there, physically unharmed. Pikachu popped out of the back of his jacket, alerting her that he was there as well, and Misty took both pokemon and trainer into a tight hug and squeezed until Ash coughed.

"I can't breath, Misty." he groaned but she didn't stop until a few seconds later, where she pulled away as Delia turned the corner into the hallway. Tears reflected in the corners of Misty's eyes.

"You're safe." the mother spoke with a sigh of relief. Ash grinned at the two females, and then slipped his hand into Misty's. Smelling the now-cold dinner that was left on the table waiting for Ash, he guided his girlfriend toward to kitchen.

"Let's go eat."

 **xoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxox**

They hadn't even been sitting for a full minute after Delia warmed the food up when a knock came to the door. Misty sat beside Ash while he served pikachu a small plate of potatoes and ketchup, and then started on his own plate of turkey, and potatoes, and stuffing, and ham; Misty did as well, but a smig slower.

"How did you get here, anyways? And why don't you answer your phone?" She grumbled while looking worriedly at him. He could only grin, thinking inwardly that she worried too much and too often.

"The phone is a long story," he paused thoughtfully, thinking better than to tell her about his mountain climbing incident. Then surprising to her, he leaned over and pecked her cheek. "Team Rocket gave me a ride. All the other boats and planes weren't leaving dock on Christmas."

"Team Rocket?" Misty asked, then as if on cue, the purple and magenta haired villains and their cat turned and walked into the kitchen behind Delia.

"These three said that you invited them Ash." She said while pulling out chairs and setting plates for the three guests. Ash smiled at them brightly, while they looked nervous, and slightly ashamed at the request that they followed up on after rejecting it at first. They were no longer in their uniform, but in sweaters and formal attire.

"I'm glad that you guys made it." Ash said warmly; even bad guys, especially ones as _bad_ at being bad as Team Rocket, deserved a nice Christmas sometimes.

Once Team Rocket was settled into their seats, and his mother in hers; they started to share stories about their adventures; mostly Ash, of course, who explained how and why he didn't call sooner. His most recent victories and pokemon caught while he shoveled a delicious amount of food into his mouth. They played games, read stories, watched Christmas movies, and listened to the distant sound of carolers. Ash opened his gifts from Misty and Delia. His mom bought him new underwear, as per the usual Christmas tradition, and Misty bought him the new pokemon guidebook with all types of pokemon compiled into a simple list with basic weaknesses and zones written in—only, it wasn't the paper edition. It was the electronic booklet so all he had to do was type and search. He held it out with stars gleaming in his eyes.

"It's amazing!" he expressed and Misty didn't know what to say, watching him open the gift was a lot like watching a kid and it made her grin. When he hugged Misty in a grateful thank you, he pulled away sadly.

He realized her never bought her gift and inhaled sharp as he sat back down beside her. He almost mentioned it, but James looked at one of the paintings hung over the fire place, and started to chime and adore over it. With Team Rocket and his mom distracted; he looked at Misty and dipped his head in close, but the female trainer took his hand before he could speak and pulled him up off of the couch.

"Let's go for a walk." She demanded, taking his hand and guiding him to the hallway, and then to their jackets. She pulled on her long red jacket over her tights and shorts and red sweater; and he pulled on his black jacket. He whistled for Pikachu, but the pokemon was otherwise occupied with Mr. Mime and Maril, so he grimaced and then left without him. He knew, well, he hoped that Team Rocket wouldn't do anything to ruin this night. He glanced around the corner at them, as they talked with Delia and sipped eggnog, and smiled; they were content, and so he felt safe leaving Pikachu.

"Where are we going?" he suggested amazed to see that Misty only shrugged her shoulders.

"Just out. Don't you want to see the lights before they shut off?" She said while encapsulating his hand in hers, "Plus, I'm not in a dress this year, or broken heels; so it'll be much more enjoyable than last year." She smiled at him from beneath her blue scarf and Ash could only grin back at her.

Everything with Misty was still new. The feeling of her hand in his was new; her arm brushing up against his—her warm, contagious smile... While they were all things he experienced before—it was nothing like the past year. He didn't see her often, he was so busy with traveling that he couldn't always make it back to Kanto; but she was patient, and when she did finally get to see him, it was like they hadn't missed a day with each other.

Even after being late for Christmas, showing up dressed casually, as per tradition, and inviting Team Rocket; she still smiled at him, and didn't scold him. His face darkened a little, terrified now. Maybe she was walking him out to his death, and planned to hide the body in the river?

"Why aren't you mad?" He finally squeaked, catching Misty off guard as she pushed onto the trail near the alley way that would take them to Central Park. She stammered.

"W-what?"

"You know, why aren't you mad. I was late, and I don't even have a gift."

Misty exhaled slightly, as if surprised until she finally took her right arm back, and then brought it quickly to his shoulder where she only gently tapped his arm; "Of course I'm not mad." She said before wrapping her arm around his once again.

"I mean, I was. Mad that you didn't call, leave a call back number, or give me any details on what was happening—but I was mostly worried. I heard about the blizzard in Sinnoh this last week and I wanted to rip my hair out worrying over you. I'm more relieved to see you in one piece than I am mad about anything."  
Ash couldn't help the smile that formed over his lips as she drug him from the alley way and onto the main street heading downtown.

"I'm sorry for making you worry. I seem to do that a lot." he stammered anxiously.

"Yeah, you do." She admit, letting silence fall between them as they looked at the lights that started to slowly be shut down one by one. They stepped into central park with five minutes to spare before the lights would be closed down. They weren't like the Cerulean City lights that stayed on all night Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Pallet town was much smaller, and almost everything, if it wasn't already closed, stopped at 10:00pm on the dot.

"Man, they're just as amazing as they were when I was a kid."

"Plus, there's no snow; that must be a relief."

"You have no idea." He offered while they raced to the center of the park to see all of the lights that they could. Huffing and puffing as they crashed onto the bench at the top of the hill. Misty pointed at one set of lights in particular that looked like the tower in Kalos, a place she had always wanted to go.

"Eh, it wasn't that amazing actually." Ash confirmed, causing Misty's lips to purse.

"That because you're unromantic." She suggested while crossing her arms. With a goofy grin he kicked out his feet.

"Who needs to be romantic when I have you?" he offered in return while crossing his arms behind his head. She frowned and jabbed him playfully in the side.

"You could try, you know. Flowers and chocolate are a nice gesture even if they're not hand delivered."

Ash gawked at her; "That's a thing?"

Misty face palmed, "Yes that's a thing."

"Am I expected to do that?" his nervous laughter caused a vein to twitch on her face while she leaned forward an pulled on his cheeks.

"I don't know why I put up with you." She warned him, letting out a vile, yet playful tone while he wrapped his arms around her waist and tried to smile through the pain of his pinched cheeks.

"Because you love me." He muttered, and then Misty released his cheeks to exhale and rest her head on his shoulder; a gesture that sent shivers down his spine, even thought it was warm compared to Sinnoh Region.

"That is undeniably correct." Misty confirmed while looking down to the base of the hill. Ash shuddered in delight, licking his lips as a comfortable silence embraced them. One by one the lights started to turn off in sections. First the fountain; then the Kalos tower, next the trees; until the park was dark, and the only illumination was provided by the stars, and the only sound was the distant chirp of a cricket. She rubbed his back gently, back and forth forming circles in his jacket and leaving him with a tingling feeling. His hand was wrapped around her waist, and they leaned up against the back of the bench, looking outward to the no-snow covered ground. After a moment, Ash's mouth opened.

"Would this be considered romantic?" he asked with a slight blush tinging over his cheeks, and a chuckle from Misty confirmed it.

"Now you're starting to get it." She added while sitting up, and then leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. Her lips were so cold that he wanted to turn over and place his against hers just to transfer the heat, but instead, he swallowed hard against the budding warmth that traveled up from his stomach.

"Oh." He said plainly as they sat once again in a warm silence until Ash's nerve grew and he turned to Misty who wasn't quite prepared, and simply kissed her on the lips for the first time in months.

While they never lost contact with each other over the course of the year, physical contact was still really weird for Ash. He never knew when it was okay to touch her; except he knew that in public, it was bad and highly frowned upon. He wasn't sure when he should kiss her or hug her—when holding hands wasn't okay, when to give space, or when to cuddle. As a general rule, he was really bad at initiating anything and so most of the time, he let Misty guide him with his full confidence in her. Today wasn't really any different, but it was. He missed her so much when she wasn't around.

He stormed off eight months ago, saw her once in the mean time; and then the only major change from their friendship, was that on his travels he called her much more frequently. But it was the physical contact he ached for; even if it was weird, having her around relaxed him.

He opened his mouth, forcing hers to spread while his tongue traced her lips, and then sloppily dived in. Eliciting a moan from her that echoed through his body as his lips moved against hers naturally with a sharp, eloquent grin. He pulled away, leaving both of them breathless and gazed into her green eyes.

"I love you." He offered, forcing a red blush over her cheeks, "And I'm sorry for being gone so long... I must be a pretty terrible boyfriend." he confirmed but Misty could only smile up at him, and then peck him once more the lips whilst shaking her head.

"You're not a terrible boyfriend. I love you just they way you are, even if I wouldn't mind seeing you more."

He grinned at that, "What if you did see me more?" the question brought a blush to her face, and his. She wasn't quite sure how to answer that. They had gotten so used to brief rendezvous and day visits, that they had never really thought much about what it would be like if he was around _all the time_. She gulped.

"I don't know," She spoke timidly, smiling up at him, "I think it would be pretty neat."

"Only neat?" he asked getting close to her face and pressing their noses together gently.

"I would enjoy it, but I don't think you could handle being in one spot for very long."

"You never know. I could surprise you." he offered with raised eyebrows.

She grinned, "Did you miss me?"

"A little." He confirmed, but in his heart, he knew the correct answer to that was 'a lot more than words could ever describe'.

"I missed you, too." She added to his, lacing their fingers together as she brought her face forward to kiss him once again under the cascading moonlight. With the lights off, the chill started to sweep through the park, and when she shivered in the middle of their kiss. He separated and rose.

"We should get back." he said quickly, scooping her hand with his and pulling her to her feet, "It's getting cold, and I don't want to leave Pikachu alone with Team Rocket for very long." He laughed nervously, but Misty nodded albeit saddened that the moment was over. If possible, she had pushed herself against his body even closer as they walked the hill down to the exit of the park, tossing small jokes until Ash whistled and pursed his lips as he spoke. He was having strange thoughts; ones in which he wondered what it would be like to settle down for awhile. To get away from repeating leagues over and over, hoping for a better outcome. He licked his lips.

"I think we should get married."

Misty sputtered and almost tripped; if she hadn't been holding onto Ash, she would have fallen; "What?" She choked and Ash grimaced.

"You heard me." he added, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Yeah, I heard you." She said clearing her throat and straightening out her messed up hair nervously, "Someday, we should." She confirmed, but that wasn't quite what Ash wanted to hear.

"No...I mean right now?" he pressed, squeezing her hand a bit.

"Right now?" she echoed, a bit worried as they stopped at the park entrance.

"Well; sort of;" He paused and bit his lip, "I didn't get you a gift."

"Ash, that's not something you ask as a gift." She snapped in a high pitched voice, curling her hands into fists as a deep scarlet crossed her face. Did he not understand what he was asking?

"I know." He said, feeling his chest warm up while he leaned forward to look her directly in the eye. "That's why for Christmas, this year and every year—because I seem to mess up normal gift giving-all I can give you is me." he said with a cherry grin that only made Misty gawk.

"Ash, what are you suggesting!" She squealed, face bright red.

"Geez, Misty, did you go deaf or something?" He mocked and then pursed his lips and gazed holes into her green eyes. "I asked, if you would marry me?" He swallowed, and with his arms wrapped so tightly around her, she could feel his chest beating through his thick jacket, pressing against her own beating heart and her face scrunched up painfully until she opened her mouth, and then closed it.

"W-what is with you and Christmas surprises? Please don't make a habit out of this..." She asked timidly, and Ash blinked, a bit confused.

"...is that a no?"  
"No!" Misty chimed in quickly, shutting down that idea before it even got into his head.

"Then it's a yes?" he said with a smirk that made her want to kick him in the shin. She fumbled for words, not wanting to answer yes after that smirk appeared on his face. So she remained frozen for a moment, staring into his dark brown eyes and looking for any indication that what he was saying was a joke, or something temporary—but it was all there, that undying loyalty and connection she saw in his eyes every time. She she exhaled.

"Alright."

"Alright, yes?" he pushed, wanting to hear her say it.

"Yes!" She groaned flailing gently in his arms, "I will marry you!"

With her answer in stone, his grin encapsulated her own shortly after, capturing her lips in a sharp, gleeful excitement.

"You know, asking a girl to marry you is a big commitment, right?" She muttered into the kiss, but Ash didn't seem to notice, or care as his thumb traced her jaw line.

"Being with you is a big commitment." He added as he pulled away to cradle her face.

"No ring?" She joked, holing up her left finger. Thoughtfully, Ash dug in his pockets, catching Misty off guard as a vibrant red blush returned to her cheeks—as well as his own.

"You know that moment when sometimes someone asks something and it turns out you had it all along?" He stuck out his tongue slightly, and then when his hands come up empty he smiled awkwardly at her as she watched with anticipation. "Today isn't one of those days. I didn't think I was going to ask, so I didn't buy it after all..." he laughed while scratching his neck.

Misty's face twitched and she shuddered hitting him on the head lightly; "Did you ask on a whim? You know you can't take it back!" She whined, and Ash grinned.

"I don't want to!" he suggested and then took her hands in his, and then seconds later scooped her up bridal style and spun her around. "I love you. And I may not have a ring, but I don't think it matters if I ask now, or ten years from now. I'm always going to mean it." he said while stompping on his heels; Misty inhaled and looked up at him the way a child would look at Santa. A small, sparkle in her eyes.

"Ten...years from now?" She asked amazed that he had even thought that far ahead and he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"You're stuck with me now. I've captured you." he demanded while slowly letting her down to her feet. She stared up to him at first with an intense gaze, before it drifted into one of adoration.

"I wouldn't want to be stuck with anyone else." She admit with a blush rising to her cheeks again as she followed him back home, clearing her throat, "Is that why you asked about visiting more?"  
"...maaayyybe." he offered slyly, intertwining their fingers. "I was just thinking a lot the last eight months about how much I miss you..and a lot about how all of my adventures tire with no end in sight." He tossed her an entranced gaze, "So...maybe settling down for awhile wouldn't be so bad."

Misty's face brighten up like a light bulb, and she couldn't help herself when she threw her arms up and around his neck, knocking him over into a flat of grass. Surprised, he yelled and twisted his body and arms around her as they crashed into the grass below. She sat on top of him, straddling his waist while beaming and kissing him hotly for a few moments. He returned her kisses feverishly until a moment later, she pulled back with her lips pursed and eye lids lowered. His hands slipped up her thighs while she maneuvered herself down and gently pressed their lips together once again, savoring the taste.

Ash broke the heated kiss however, uttering sarcastically; "You know, if you start ripping my clothes off out here, I'm likely to get hypothermia."

"This is why we can't have nice things!" She screamed while all in one swoop, jumped away from him, threw her arms up and stomped her feet in the opposite direction. Her blue scarf danced in the wind behind her, and Ash could only let out a roaring laughter, holding his gut as he stood up to follow her.

"I was just kidding. I'll only get frost bite!" He joked after her loudly, but with her face several shades darker she threw her glove at him and sprinted away. He tailed her patiently, both laughing hysterically and as bright as Christmas tree lights; but they were happy, and they were together.

What more could anyone ask for on Christmas?

 **Author's Note:**

Man, this didn't take a month longer than I wanted to finally get posted. Sorry for the late update, I hope you all still enjoy it!

ALL THE CHEESE. Maybe I should have put up a disclaimer?

"Warning, this is a story about Christmas and Romance—prepare yourself for all the fluffy moments" Aren't Christmas stories supposed to make your heart warm and cause frequent "Awe"s?

Also, I could sort of see this happening. I don't in any shape or from imagine Ash ever asking Misty to marry him properly. No huge engagement plans, just a drop of a hat decision where he's like "This is something we could do?" but totally means it, because that's how Ash works? I dunno; I wanted to imply that having been separated for so long, and trying to live his former life and his new life at the same time, he realizes that he prefers the new one, even if it's not as exciting.

-shrugs- This final chapter could have been written better. I might come back to edit it. Hastagdontshootthelazyauthor

Also, classic team rocket is classic. The new versions of them suck. I miss Jessie and James who had heart and soul, and would actually do this even though Ash is their 'sworn' enemy, you know?

Thank you for all the kind reviews, favs, and follows. Merry SUPER-AWESOME-EARLY Christmas. :)


End file.
